The Flock

Thriller, 2007, Directors: Wai-keung Lau, Niels Mueller, Writers: Hans Bauer, Craig Mitchell, Runtime: 105 min

Richard Gere plays Erroll Babbage, an employee of the department of public safety who monitors registered sex offenders. He became obsessed with his job after a girl went missing on his watch. He swore it would never happen again and waddayouknow, just before he is about to quit it happens again…

Because of the fact that he became so obsessed with his work and started to freak out his collagues, Erroll is fired. In his last day’s he has to train Allison Laurie (Claire Danes) to be his follow-up. Together they try to track down the missing girl, in the murky world of sex offenders. This all boils down to a pretty basic thriller, with solid performances by Gere and Danes. Nothing new here, but still a very decent film. Except maybe for the editing which is done in that flashing-about-like-on-crack C.S.I. kind off way. But it does add to the already creepy setting. Wait till this one is out on dvd.

Resident Evil: Extinction

Horror, 2007, Director: Russell Mulcahy, Writer: Paul W.S. Anderson, Runtime: 95



This is the third installment in the Resident Evil series and arguably the best. Let me rephrase that: it sucks less then it's predessesors. This isn’t that difficult, since the last one sucked so hard, it's now used as software to program vacume cleaners. The first Resident Evil was fairly watchable, but this one wins by upping the action and gore, which makes it a fairly decent zombie-movie. But then again - the standards in that genre aren't that high.

The story doesn't matter unless you care and if you do I ask you: why? What's nice, is that the whole thing takes place during the day. You don't see that too often in a zombieflick. Let's leave it with that.

30 Days Of Night

Horror, 2007, Director: David Slade, Writers: Steve Niles, Stuart Beattie, Brian Nelson, Runtime: 113

Strange shit starts happening when a small town in Alaska is getting ready for 30 days of night. Sheriff Eben Oleson (Josh Hartnett) investigates and finds out all means of communication and transportation out of town are cut off. It appears a bunch of vampires chose the town as their 30 days of all-you-can-eat-buffet. Pretty soon the majority of the town gets murderd/eaten (as shown in a nice top-down point of view). A small group of people under command of sheriff Oleson, seeks shelter.

From there on out it's your average survival horror stuff. People get emotional, do dumb shit and end up as vampire breakfast (or dinner. It's hard to tell, since it's night all day). Which doesn’t mean this is an average movie. The pace is just high enough, the violence brutal and best of all: they made vampires scary again. These are predators who feed on human flesh, instead of dandy’s who like the occasional glass of blood. Unlike American Gangster, 30 days does go out with a bang, even if the ending doesn’t make any sense.

Anche Libero Va Bene

Drama, 2006, Director: Kim Rossi Stuart, Writers: Linda Ferri, Francesco Giammusso, Kim Rossi Stuart, Federico Starnone, Runtime: 108

I’ve seen so many American movies the past years, that I almost forgot there are other ways of storytelling on screen as well. Anche Libero Va Bene is a Italian movie without comic relief from a sidekick. Without a bankable star to keep the accountants happy. Without the latest popstar attempting to act in order to attract young people to the theatres. No redundant scenes to explain the characters because otherwise studio-executives think audiences won’t believe them. No obligatory happy end.

What you do get are actors who tell a moving story about a family of a single father and two children. The mother has abandoned them wich left an big impact on everyone. It takes effort from the father as well as the children to keep the family together through the good times and the bad. It’s as simple as that.

American Gangster

Crime, 2007, Director: Ridley Scott, Writer: Steven Zaillian, Runtime: 157 min

A story about the Good (Rus-sell Crowe) the Bad (Den-zel Washington) and the Mumbling (Armand Assante). Cinematical this is a beatiful picture about Manhattan in the seventies. Scott based the sets on William Kleins photographs and did a terrific job. Downsides: The film doesnt get exiting at any point. It's clear that the 'blue magic' dealing Frank Lucas is going to rise to the top, only to be brought down by Richie 'serpico' Roberts. When that happens, he's cooperating in a matter of minutes. After more than two hours of caracter development, the movie goes out without a bang. Washington says 'my man' a lot, just like in Training Day (for wich he won an Oscar) but at least that movie ended with a shoot-out.

High Points: Josh Brolin as a extra-corrupt cop "Have a great fucking trip back to Jersey" and plenty naked ladies cutting up dope.